2024 Roundball Impact Night
This year's 2024 Roundball Impact Night showcased a celebration of the community's top Rising Stars, Coed Allstars, and Community Game Changers. The night began with its second annual coed game, which brought together hoopers from all walks of life in one building. The game was light-hearted- a rare night in Roundball Coed, which has impressively transitioned from a "Social Sundays" approach to a now extremely competitive two-tier league with some of the most incredible ex-college hoopers taking the court in the elite division.
Following the Coed Game, the Rising Stars Game was by far the popular focus of the night with the bleachers packed upon the opening introductions. The game started off with introductions being made for Team "Push Ups" and Team "Not Like Us" a nod to this year's infamous battle between rap moguls Kendrick Lamar and Aubrey "Drake" Graham. The game was a thriller from start to finish with everything from deep three balls to exciting throw-downs in the lane. However, no different from the current climate of hip hop itself, Team "Not Like Us" won this year's game with a score of 75-69. Having said that, no credit can be taken away from Team Push Ups as they kept the battle far closer than Degrassi star Drake did in his lackluster effort to take down the lyrical genius of Kendrick Lamar. As the game concluded, Martin Djunga won a back-to-back Rising Stars Game MVP award for team Not Like Us, officially ending his Rising Stars run in classic style.
With the conclusion of the game came some always great free pizza provided by the reliability and consistency of sponsor Pizza Factory. Enough can't be said about the consistent community sponsors behind this event which included Title League Sponsors Banch Marketing and non-profit sponsor God the Father Apparel who hold a similar mission of using the mandate of the gospel as the blueprint to empower the community.
The night ended in true Roundball fashion as "Purpose and Impact" came to the forefront. Roundball introduced three amazing panelists alongside Roundball staff to discuss the challenges of adversity and the importance of Overcoming them. Roundball's mission has always been to use the game to make an impact and therefore three impactful panelists spoke of their journeys in life to this date and how they have overcome time and time again.
Trevor Stokes, a loyal and long-stander teacher to Vancouver's east side shared some deep truths on the pains and successes of supporting communities that historically have had less. His efforts have led him to create the largest Marathon Running Cohort in the world through his program Streetfront Alt. - A program that uses marathon running as a tool to help young people overcome adversities.
The panel was also fortunate to have Elle Kerfoot apart of their panel who is one of BC's most accomplished women's players ever, having been a former player of the year, provincial champion, Division 1 college athlete, and overseas pro. Her current impact is what is even more impressive as she's created a global brand under HerCourt Style - an all-female clothing brand dedicated to empowering females through style and performance. Elle touched on how we have to view our challenges from a different perspective than usual and the importance of recognizing them and having the power to pivot in the right direction forward. She also spoke on the importance of kindness and how vital it is to society in this day and age.
Lastly, the panel was grateful to have Jonathan Mubanda, a youth advocate, film producer, actor, streetball legend, and safe schools liaison. Jonathan spoke on the importance of sound mentorship in one's life and how we are called to give back to the community based on the struggles we have suffered. This was profound as it took the focus off of one's internal struggle and pointed it in the direction of encouraging and being a light to others. Jon's powerful award-winning documentary "It Takes a Village" discusses exactly this, the power a strong support system has on the community. You can check it out on Telus today.
All in all, the 2024 Impact Night was a marvelous success, be on the lookout for the snippets of wisdom from the panelists as well as the game highlights posted at @roundball.bc and @roundball.impact on Instagram.